Nazuan Apis, who arrived in Australia in 2016 with a three-month
tourist eVisa, did farm work to make some cash, aaand he already knew that
he was probably going to overstay on his visa because he wanted to make more
money.

Then a Malaysian work agent approached Nazuan while he was working at Robinvale,Victoria and offered him a protection visa for only AUS$100 (~RM290).

Nazuan said 15 of his Malaysian housemates also applied for the protection visa through the same agent.

All they had to do was fill up a form and get the local police to authorise it. It was that simple.

A protection visa allows foreigners to PERMANENTLY stay in Australia as long as they arrive with a valid visa. Those who apply for the protection visa must be a refugee or meet the complementary protection criteria.

When he left, customs officers at the airport warned him to â€œnever
come again.â€

His story, which was initially shared on the Australian newspaper gained traction after it was shared on the UK news site, Daily Mail.

In Australia, Malaysians are the highest number of visa overstayers and the second-highest number of protection visa applicants. Wondering what kind of persecution they said they were escaping from. https://t.co/d599QY4zum

In fact, in 2018 Malaysians were taking to social media to complain about long waiting time for visa approval and visa cancellations as well.

Marzuki Yahya said that itâ€™s hard for Malaysia to control the situation as many of these unscrupulous individuals would travel to Australia as tourists before getting rid of their passports and claiming to be refugees.